Linux - GeneralThis Linux forum is for general Linux questions and discussion.
If it is Linux Related and doesn't seem to fit in any other forum then this is the place.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
Originally posted by digiot Yeah - one of those 'lost in the mists of time' things. Others will say 'Run Control', 'Resource Configuration', whatever. It's all Really Cryptic.
I personally refer to it as "Runlevel Configuration" since the majority of the time rc type commands are used in any of 6 different runlevels during boot time.
Yeah, that makes sense. Except a lot of apps, while not rc.foo, have 'apprc' files. Cool thing about abbreviations like that is that there's no reason 'rc.foo' can't be 'runlevel configuration' and 'apprc' can't be 'run control' or anything else.
Unix loses track of stuff a lot, though. Hard time remembering what the 'f' in fvwm is - dunno where the hell we lost the 'n' in umount, and so on.
If you could change one thing about Unix? "I'd spell 'creat' with an 'e'." - Dennis Ritchie (I think)
...
The rc command derives from the runcom facility from the MIT CTSS system, ca. 1965. From Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, as told to Vicki Brown:
"There was a facility that would execute a bunch of commands stored in a file; it was called runcom for "run commands", and the file began to be called "a runcom". rc in Unix is a fossil from that usage."
Thank you, JunctaJuvant. This may seem a trivial issue, but it's no more trivial than a lot of what passes for "important" in the news every single day.
You might be amused to know it took me a year to figure out that "so" stood for "shared object" and not "source." I'd been wondering all that time why so many source files were needed for running programs....
Originally posted by jonr Thank you, JunctaJuvant.
Ditto. Looks like trickykid had it to begin with. I'd always come across some conflicting statements and some statements that acknowledged it was basically forgotten, but that sounds pretty solid.
And I learned two for one - I never knew what the hell 'biff' meant. Nice resource.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.
What means rc in rc.d, rc.conf etc...?
